#Psalmtweet #Psalter 17:1

 There's much ink spilled over the accents that define the music. I use line breaks in my translation to show only the two major internal cadences that are used in the poetry books - the one on the supertonic, and the one on the subdominant.

Other pauses are clear from the sense of the words but not from the accents alone. In this verse, for example, there are four revia (the little diamond above the text). Two of them allow a pause, and two do not. Imagine yourself as a composer with these tools of your trade. Imagine yourself as a poet. Using the revia, we could divide the 20 syllables of the middle colon into three parts.

This 'psalm' is a prayer.

תְּפִלָּ֗ה לְדָ֫וִ֥ד שִׁמְעָ֤ה יְהוָ֨ה ׀ צֶ֗דֶק הַקְשִׁ֥יבָה רִנָּתִ֗י הַאֲזִ֥ינָה תְפִלָּתִ֑י בְּ֝לֹ֗א שִׂפְתֵ֥י מִרְמָֽה		1 A prayer of David. Hear Yahweh righteousness. Attend to my shout. Give ear to my prayer, not from lips of deceit.
a tpilh ldvid wmyh ihvh xdq hqwibh rinti hazinh tpilti bla wpti mrmh	6 20 6	t/pl\h l/dvd wmy\h ihvh xdq h/qwb\h rn\ti h/azn\h t/pl\ti bl\a wp\ti m/rmh